Short Takes: May 18, 1992

TELEVISION

Angst in the Parking Lot

YOU KEEP ROOTING FOR AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE. The PBS series is television's only regular outlet for serious, original works of American drama. Too often, however, what you get is windy trifles like Mrs. Cage. Adapted from a one-act play by Nancy Barr, it stars Anne Bancroft as a housewife who, without apparent reason, shoots a woman in a supermarket parking lot following a violent robbery, then confesses the crime to a police lieutenant, played by Hector Elizondo. The drama consists almost entirely of a long, rambling, needlessly elusive dialogue in which the woman's motive is gradually revealed. Suffice it to say it has something to do with middle-aged married angst and the theme song from Rawhide.

BOOKS

Predictable Jabs

PUBLISHERS SOMETIMES RUSH A BOOK into print to capitalize on a commercially hot author. Sometimes the tactic backfires. This is what happened to P.J. O'Rourke, whose last book, Parliament of Whores, a sidesplitting broadside at Congress, was a best seller last year. GIVE WAR A CHANCE (Atlantic Monthly Press; $20.95), a compendium of columns and random thoughts, has all the wise- guy wit we've come to expect from the fiercely traditional Rolling Stone columnist, but it feels old. O'Rourke's shots at American antiwar protesters, jabs at Arab sheiks and some predictable jokes about poorly stocked shelves in what was the Soviet Union give you the feeling you've read it all before. You have.

MUSIC

Reopening a Horn of Plenty

FOR MUCH OF THE PAST TWO DECADES, jazz singer SHIRLEY HORN abandoned the recording studio in favor of domesticity. But since signing with Verve in 1988, Horn, 58, has been making up for lost time, collaborating with her favorite musicians and recording her best work yet. Her latest release, Here's to Life, fulfills a lifelong ambition to record with composer-arranger Johnny Mandel. Elegantly orchestrated with strings and winds, plus Horn's delicate piano, the album features ballads, like the title track and Isn't It a Pity?, in which Horn's velvety voice virtually coos in the listener's ear. On other tracks, like the jaunty How Am I to Know?, a flirtatious Horn evokes glamorous couples swirling in imaginary stardust ballrooms.

DANCE

Rudy's New Gig

THE AMERICAN BALLET THEATER'S PROduction (Romeo and Juliet) was lovely, the music (Prokofiev) splendid, and the principal dancers (Laurent Hilaire and Sylvie Guillem) enchanting. But the roiling applause at Manhattan's Metropolitan Opera House went mainly to the man who was making his U.S. debut in the orchestra pit, RUDOLF NUREYEV. Now 54, the century's most celebrated male dancer has got a leg up on a new career as a conductor. Admirers who feared that he could not achieve so radical a transition without embarrassment may rest easy. Nureyev, who started conducting both ballet and stage performances with considerable success in Europe last year, demonstrated that he has all the right musical moves.

CINEMA

Ward Games